Fall of Ephyra
The Fall of Ephyra was a major battle that took place Frost of 10 A.E.Gears of War: The Slab Chpts 1-4 It was a massive battle with the COG armed forces making a desperate stand to hold the city against tens of thousands of "Grubs" and Boomers, at least a thousand Reavers and numerous amounts of Brumaks, Seeders and Corpsers. COG High Command and COG Intel originally thought that the Locust would have to travel across the surface from an area outside the Jacinto Plateau in order to invade Ephyra. However, there was an unidentified fissure under the Jacinto Plateau that was only discovered just before the Locust began their assault. The Locust are able to penetrate through the surface and move through the metro stations and enter the city. The battle ended with the southern part of Ephyra under Locust control, the northern part under COG control (Until 14 A.E.), many Gears and civilians were killed during the battle and a large amount of COG military hardware including weapons, vehicles, equipment and supplies are either destroyed or in Locust hands. Order of Battle Prelude Nine years after Emergence Day, the Locust launched an assault upon Ilima City, personally led by General RAAM. The Locust hoped to invade and capture Ilima City to use as a stepping stone for a massive invasion of Ephyra City. The Locust are able to capture and occupy the city which led to the inevitable invasion of Ephyra.RAAM's Shadow: Darkness Spreads In 9 A.E., the COG was bracing for the impending attack on Ephyra and the military already setted the logistics up for relocating to Jacinto City in the event that they might lose Ephyra. Some such as Augustus Cole referred to the possible Locust assault on Ephyra as "the big one" and the battle would be massive in scale. The Locust Horde was gearing up for the attack on the COG capital and began building railways and bridges to move troops near the city.Gears of War: Coalition's End pg 365 The Battle The Breach Gears of War: The Slab pg 66 The Locust Horde reached Ephyra City in the Locust War's tenth year. They were able to dig their way past the rocks of the Plateau and are able to overrun the city. Before the battle began, the COG forces assumed that the Locust would have to move across the land in order to assault Ephyra. However, since the metro stations running through Ephyra are shut down, the stations were not under surveillance by the COG forces. The Locust forces are able to find a fissure to breach through without being detected. The Locust forces rapidly moved through the metro stations and began assaulting the city. At the beginning of the battle, it was estimated that nearly ten thousand Grubs were in the city along with numerous numbers of Reavers, Corpsers and Brumaks. The battle was particularly bloody as the city was both the capital of Tyrus and the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Battle at the Chancery Bridge Eventually, the groups of COG forces fell back toward the Chancery Bridge as the Locust forces were making a massive push in order to take the city. Marcus Fenix received a distress call from his father and boarded a King Raven with Dominic Santiago to Haldane Hall. However, Marcus Fenix took the targeting optic with him and left the rest of the targeting device at the Chancery Bridge. The Hammer of Dawn targeting device was left inoperable. The fighting there would nearly destroy any chances that the COG had of winning the war until four years later when the Lightmass Bomb was used. Colonel Hoffman personally went to the bridge to destroy it with the laser which was difficult, but not impossible without the optic. However, it was too late to stop the Locust force and destroying the bridge just prevented more reinforcements from coming. With the help of Anya Stroud who provided covering fire despite her lack of training, Hoffman managed to rescue the two Gears from the bridge by doing it all with a head injury. Last Stand at East Barricade Academy The Gears stationed at East Barricade Academy led a last stand effort that was nearly successful. However, Marcus Fenix received a distress call from his father, leading him to abandon his post, taking the targeting laser with him in an attempt to save his father.Inside the Mind of Marcus Fenix: Marcus This action was carried out at the cost of his fellow Gears and left Jacinto open for attack.Gears of War: Aspho Fields pg 361 Marcus and Dominic Santiago battled the Locust at the Fenix Estate, but Adam was apparently crushed to death by the falling debris when the King Raven coming to pick them up was shot down.Gears of War 3 Aftermath With the fall of the Southern half of Ephyra, the Northern part was still under Coalition control so all of the government buildings including the House of Sovereigns were still running and the government was still effective. The evacuation of the city population was successful. It would be another four years until the COG could mount an effective offensive up in the form of the Lightmass Offensive. Marcus Fenix was put on trial for cowardice and would have been executed if not for his exemplary two tours of duty in the Pendulum Wars and Dominic Santiago testifying in his favor. Fenix was sentenced to 40 years of imprisonment in the Slab, the COG's most infamous prison while Santiago's loyalty to the COG was questioned by his superiors for his decision to defend Fenix. Dominic Santiago, Anya Stroud, Jace Stratton and Tai Kaliso would work during their off-duty hours to help get Marcus out of prison over the next four years,Gears of War: The Slab which would eventually succeed during the fourth year when Dominic Santiago rescued Marcus during the Battle of the Slab.Gears of War It was later revealed that Adam Fenix survived and was abducted by Chairman Richard Prescott and taken to the island of Azura where he eventually developed a weapon, the Imulsion Countermeasure Weapon to destroy the Locust Horde and the Lambent. References Category:Battles Category:Events Category:Locust Horde military victories